Auckland Mayor Phil Goff under investigation over hoarding of stadium report

Tuesday, 22 May 2018

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff is off side with a number of his councillors for how he has handled the waterfront stadium report.

Auckland mayor Phil Goff's decision to refuse councillors a full copy of a downtown stadium report has landed him in hot water with the Ombudsman.

Goff was criticised earlier in the week for his handling of a $1 million pre-feasibility report from PwC which looked into the pros and cons of building a new stadium at Auckland's waterfront.

Several councillors said the report could only be viewed in his office under supervision, leading several concerned councillors to hit out at the mayor.

One of those was Albert-Eden-Roskill ward councillor Cathy Casey, who confirmed the Ombudsman's office had acknowledged a complaint she made about the mayor's handling of the report and said it would investigate.

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'At the end of this term I will have had 24 years as a councillor. In that time I have never been treated with such disrespect as this,' Casey said.

A spokesman for the office of the Ombudsman confirmed it had received two complaints about the matter, which it was assessing.

Casey asked to see the full report last week, but was told by the mayor the contents were 'commercially sensitive' and that the full report would be available to read in his office, she said.

However Goff's office said claims the report could only be viewed under supervision were simply 'not true'.

A spokesman for Goff said councillors could see the full, un-redacted report anytime they liked – and several had come through without any issues.

Only on one occasion was a staff member present while a councillor was reading through the report and they were there to answer questions, he said.

It was not unusual for the Ombudsman to investigate such situations as a matter of course, the spokesman said.

In a Facebook post, Casey claimed the report was 'unknown' to up to 20 councillors.

A 'hastily convened and poorly attended' briefing for councillors with the mayor and Regional Facilities Auckland on Monday did little to put councillors' minds at ease, she said.

Councillor Sharon Stewart said she attended the briefing, but only two other councillors were present when she arrived.

'The way this has been handled has a number of us very upset, and quite frankly confused,' she said.

Councillor Efeso Collins said he was concerned by the lack of trust displayed by the mayor's handling of the document.

'It is not a high trust environment where we have to go up to the mayor's office to view this report under the eye of his staff,' he said.

'I suspect he fears information could be leaked, but that is his issue. We are the elected members of Auckland. If he does not trust us with the findings, who will he trust?'

The report found a new stadium, which would have a retractable roof and could seat up to 55,000 spectators, would cost up to $1.5 billion.

However, it concluded that a further, more detailed report was required before any decisions could be made.